On May 22, 2005, Sara Lynn Wineski was found dead under an abandoned wooden deck in St. Petersburg, Florida. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled. When she was found by police, it was revealed that she had been deceased for less than 24 hours before her body had been found.
While her murder was being investigated, police found the DNA of Raymond Samuels at the crime scene. The night of Sara’s murder, Samuels had been roaming the area and came across the homeless Sara. Sara was homeless and defenseless and ultimately caught off guard by Samuels.
Once the police found Samuels, they realized that he was already serving a 29 year prison sentence for attempted murder and kidnapping. With finding his DNA at the crime scene and his current prison sentence, investigators were able to link him to the crime.
DNA played a large part in solving this murder, for there were no witnesses. Without Samuels’ DNA, investigators would’ve had a hard time connecting anyone to Sara’s case.